Help me plan my college tours!

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi- I'm a rising senior in highschool, and I haven't started college touring yet. I need help primarily on choosing which colleges to visit. Also if there are some I can knock out together in a group trip, that'd be extremely helpful; for example, if I visit Brown I can also visit RISD. Stuff like that. And any other suggestions/advice will be helpful too! My mom thinks I can go to college without doings visits, but I vehemently disagree. So therefore I am on a very limited budget (no airplanes, no hotel staying most probably) and will most likely only do 3 trips.</p>

<p>Factors to consider:
- I live in Brooklyn, NY
- Car will be our main means of transportation, a train could be used also
- I'm planning to apply to top academic schools that also have good art programs</p>

<p>Questions:
- should I do overnights?
- should I save the interview parts until senior year (I don't feel ready yet)?
- I plan to visit colleges starting in September, as I want to see the bustling student life on campus. Bad plan?</p>

<p>I've visited some colleges for summer programs: MICA, Parsons, FIT, Cooper Union, Mount Holyoke, Franklin & Marshall, and Dickinson College</p>

<p>Colleges I want to visit so far:
- Brown & RISD (dual degree program, yeah!)
- Tufts
- U Penn
- Vassar
- Wesleyan
- Haverford & Swarthmore
- Middlebury
... are there any other ones in close states to NY that I should consider?</p>

<p>College counselor says to consider these as well: U Michigan, Wash U, U Virginia, Pomona... but I don't know how I'm going to get there...</p>

<p>Thanks so much!! All help will be appreciated. If you need more information, just ask.</p>

2

<p>Uh....its a tad bit late to start visiting schools.....so its better to be really focused. Thus, only visit the schools that are your number 1,2 and 3 choices and make sure they are REASONABLE choices that MATCH your stats. Dont visit reach schools because they will only likely disappoint you and you may get hooked on them. Doesnt mean you dont apply, it just means you wait to see what they do in April. </p>

<p>Judging from your school choices it looks like you must have VERY high SAT scores, like above 1500 because the schools you have selected are all extremely selective. If so, that is great. Now make a list of the schools and write down REASONS for going there. Prioritize them according to how you think you will fit in etc. Then visit those three. All others, just do your research on the internet or go to a bookstore and read as much about them as you can. </p>

<p>Your mother is PARTLY correct. I just would not ATTEND a college sight unseen. In April (last week of March) you will have your answers and you have until May 1 to notify them. That is roughly a two week timeframe to decide, because they have to receive your notice by May 1 or you will lose your spot. </p>

<p>They are all great schools you have selected. Doing an overnight is preferable, but if you absolutely cant do that, then stick to the ones closest to you in Brooklyn. </p>

<p>As for UMichigan and UVirginia, they are both extremely difficult to get into from out of state. So make sure you have the stats to get in or dont waste their time or your time and money. WashU and Pomona are fabulous schools and certainly worth an application. But if in the end you dont see yourself going there, even if admitted, because of money or other reasons, then dont waste their time and your money either. Again, if they are SERIOUS considerations for you, then by all means make an application and see what happens. </p>

<p>I have my own impressions and opinions about some of the schools you listed. But this is about you, and not about me. </p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

3

<p>i agree with nocousin in terms of only visiting your top 3 or so and keeping it focused ... rhode island is so small that you could knock out brown and risd in a couple of hours, and still make it to wesleyan and tufts by the end of the day i think -- from new york that could be a one-day trip if you leave early enough</p>

4

<ol>
<li><p>Definitely avoid attending a college that you haven't visited at all, including if you cannot visit in April after you get accepted.</p></li>
<li><p>Contact the colleges and see if they offer free visit programs in the fall. For example, Swarthmore offers a free weekend visit called Discovery Weekend for minorities.</p></li>
<li><p>If you're not ready for an interview, don't schedule one. They're really not that bad, though. When I visited Swarthmore for Discovery Weekend, I was required to do an interview, so a week or so before that I researched as much about the school as I could, trying to find interesting programs and stuff.</p></li>
</ol>

5

<p>


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<p>This is part truth, part myth. Michigan and Virginia are competitive in admissions but unlike the UC system or U Texas, neither has a quota on OOS students. Consequently 35% of Michigan's student body is OOS, and I believe around 28% of Virginia's. Last summer an admissions officer at Michigan told me they consider in-state and OOS applicants in a single pool, and that in-state applicants get no preferential treatment. If that's true, Michigan should be no more difficult to get into than many of the schools on your list, and a bit easier than some. One caveat, though: I have the sense they're getting a little tired of being used as a "safety" which hurts their acceptance rate/selectivity because they end up accepting a lot of students who have no intention of attending, so you may get rejected if they pick that up from your application.</p>

<p>As for visits, it's not too late to start but I'd cluster then. Vassar is almost in your backyard, about 90 minutes north of Manhattan; that's a separate day trip. Wesleyan could be a separate day trip, too, about 2 hr from Manhattan (possibly more from Brooklyn). Brown-RISD-Tufts can be done in one trip; it's only about 45 min Providence-Boston, more with traffic.</p>

<p>Penn, Haverford & Swarthmore are a single trip. Coming from NY I'd do it by train, Amtrak to 30th St Sta in Philly, about 10 min walk from the Penn Campus. You can catch suburban commuter trains from 30th St. to Haverford and, separately, to Swarthmore, but they're on different lines in different directions, so I'd think about maybe doing Haverford & Penn on one day, Swarthmore the next or vice versa. </p>

<p>Middlebury's your outlier, about 5 hours from NYC and not near anything. I'd maybe save that one until after you're accepted.</p>

<p>You'll learn more visiting in the fall, visiting a class, eating in the dining halls, talking to students, maybe doing an overnight if you can spare the time. But that's a lot of time if you're planning to do them all in Sept/Oct before applying, so I'd think about maybe knocking off Vassar and/or Wesleyan yet this summer, and maybe just doing one overnight on the Providence/Boston trip and one overnight on the Philly trip. You'll have plenty of time to fill in any gaps in your knowledge once you're accepted.</p>

6

<p>"Last summer an admissions officer at Michigan told me they consider in-state and OOS applicants in a single pool, and that in-state applicants get no preferential treatment".....the stats of those accepted and not on this site do not bear this out.....there is this bridge in Brooklyn for sale as well....don't believe everything you hear......even from admissions officers</p>

<p>in addition, that said admissions officer probably told you that it doesn't matter which state you come from if you are OOS; the stats don't bear that out either......</p>

7

<p>^ So do you have stats that prove otherwise? Look, they're in a competitive market to attract top students and boost their SAT/ACT medians and their US News rankings just like anyone else, and the Michigan legislature apparently doesn't care how many OOS students they serve. They admit far more OOS students than any other major public. Naturally most of their admits are in-state because most of their applications are in-state. But why, specifically, should I not believe them, just because some CC posters were rejected or had friends or acquaitances who were rejected? I know plenty of Michigan kids with pretty decent stats who were rejected as well.</p>

8

<p>
[quote]
- I'm planning to apply to top academic schools that also have good art programs

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I would recommend the following for good academics and good art. Some are already on your list. All, except Kenyon, are doable from New York.</p>

<p>Brown (you should apply to Brown alone as well as the Brown/RISD program)
Yale
Williams
Wesleyan
Conn College
Skidmore
Hamilton
Smith
Kenyon</p>

<p>It's not a problem to apply first and visit after you get accepted. Plenty of people do this; however, visiting can really help YOU understand the points of differentiation between schools. This was especially true for my son who was looking for a good art department (and good art history) within a solid academic setting. Some colleges exceeded his expectations -- Williams, where he matriculated and Wesleyan -- and others were less impressive in their art facilities (though good in other ways) -- Swarthmore and Haverford for example.</p>

<p>Plan to submit portfolio of your work. Most colleges request slides; you can check the individual websites for instructions. I'd also suggest that you put together a total arts package including the slides; a resume of awards, achievements, classes; a supplementary recommendation from an art instructor or mentor; a personal statement or essay; one or two media articles about you.</p>

<p>Visiting when school is in session is preferable but not necessarily the only choice. The admissions offices are in full swing during the summer and often you'll have more time to wander around campus and get a feel for the place. </p>

<p>Most colleges do not include the art department or the museums on their standard tours so you need to make sure you have a look at the facilities and the kind of work the students are doing. This is best done during the school year. Having said that we only visited during the summer and were able to get into most art departments.</p>

<p>I'd figure a way around the "no motel" restriction. If you're driving to New England you'd might as well spend a couple of nights and see more colleges. In the end this will save money. The colleges have lists of inexpensive places to stay on their websites. Once you're out of the cities and if you choose budget motels or bed and breakfasts, you can do it cheaply.</p>

<p>If the colleges interview on campus, I'd recommend that you plunge in. It's a good way to meet other students, recent graduates or admissions committee member whom you can communicate with after you're back home. Just start with the college that is the least important to you. You'll find the interviews less stressful as you get used to them.</p>

<p>The out of state colleges that your counselor recommended are good choices (I'm a Michigan graduate) but except for Pomona seem to be bigger than your immediate focus. Don't worry about visiting now. You can always decide later if one of these turns out to be a top choice.</p>

9

<p>wow... thank you so much guys for your indepth answers! that was much more than i expected in a good way :)</p>